Extensible electric-light pendant.



1%- 827,849. PATENTED AUG. 7, 1906.

e. & R. 0. CLARKE. EXTENSIBLB ELECTRIC LIGHT PENDANT;

I APPLICATION FILED FEB. 12. 1906.

INVENTORS 6607196 B. CZarfte,

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE B. CLARKE AND RUGGLES C. CLARKE, OF VANCOUVER, CANADA.

EXTENSIBLE ELECTRIC-LIGHT PENDANT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. '7, 1906.

Application filed February 12, 1906. Serial No. 300.774. 1

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE BENJAMIN CLARKE and RUGGLEs C. CLARKE, citizens of the Dominion of Canada, residing at the city of Vancouver; in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, have invented new and useful Improvements in Extensible Electric- Light Pendants, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to an extensible electric-light pendant designed as a substitute for the loose wires generally used where a light is required to be moved to various positions in a room, but which loose wires are not by any means convenient, as the slack requires to be looped up when not in use or a weight and system of pulleys introduced or spring-actuated reels to take up the slack. The range of the light with a pulley and weights is limited, and if a reel is used to give a greater movement it becomes cumbersome and unsightly, and a considerable pull is on the spring when the light is extended toward its limit. Our effort has therefore been to provide a device which is extensible in any direction to any reasonable desired range that is balanced so as to be extensible or closable with an effort that will overcome the friction and that will be ornamental or at least not objectionably unsightly in appearance. We have therefore a plied to the purpose under consideration t at combination of levers known as lazytongs, carrying the two wires along the opposed .links or levers and passing them through eyelets at the end junctions. The

' weight of the levers and wire is balanced by counterweights, and while in the smaller sizes the extension-lever system may hang on the wires from the rosette on the ceiling and be movable in any direction in the larger ones the lever system may be connected by links to a universal joint at the ceiling, so as to permit of such movement without straining of the wires.

The invention is fully set forth in the course of the following specification, reference being made to the drawings which accompany it, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of the device complete in its simplest form; Fig. 2, a plan of the same; Fig. 3, an enlarged detail showing the eyelet or hollow rivet by which the ends of the link members are connected. Figs. 4 and 5 show the links and universal joint by which the larger forms may be suspended from the ceiling, and Figs. 6, 7, and8 show a wire eyelet and clevis to enable the device to be applied to existing wires without the necessity of breaking connection of the wires at the rosette.

In the drawings, 2 represents the ceiling of a room, and 3 the rosette, while 4 and 5 rep resent the positive and negative wire, respec tively, of the lamp-circuit, and 6 the lampbulb socket.

The levers 7 of the system are preferably shortened toward the lower end for the sake of appearance and are connected at the midlength either by rivets 8 or, as in the case of the top pair, by a hollow rivet or eyelet 9, and the ends of the adjacent pairs are connected by eyelets 11. Each of the upper pair of levers is extended beyond the pivotal connection 9 and is downwardly curved, as at 12, to receive a counterweight 13, the curved ends being outwardly set, as shown in the plan in Fig. 2, to enable the weights to hang clear of the levers 7. Where there is suflicient room between the pivotal connection 9 and the ceiling, the levers 12 may simply be extended outward beyond the next pair of levers 7 a sufiicient distance to afford room for the weights, the object of the downward curve being merely to avoid contact with the ceiling when the device is extended, as represented by dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 1. The wires 4 and 5 of the lamp-circuit from the rosette 6 are passed through the central eyelet 9 from opposite sides and thereafter are threaded through the eyelets 11 at the ends of each pair of levers throughout the system to the lower end, where they are connected to the terminals of the lamp-socket 6. The lamp-socket 6 is simply connected to the ends of the wires 4 and 5 or may be mounted on a universal joint, so that the light may be set to any desired inclination. This constitutes the simple elements of the device; but as in the arrangement the weight is suspended from the ceiling on the wires of the circuit it is only adapted for the smaller and lighter forms of the device, wherein the levers 7 may be made of wood, with the exception of the upper pair 12, which sustain the weights 13- IIO ment for a pair of links 18 of suificient length to bring the pendant within convenient reaching distance from the floor, the links being secured at their u per end to a spherical segment 19 within tiie cup 15 and at the lower end are connected to the central eyeletrivet 9 of the levers.

The wires 4 and 5 from the rosette pass through the center of the cup 16 and down between the links 18 toward the mid-length, where they pass through apertures 20 to the outer side to afiordroom between the links for the weight-carrying extensions 12 of the upper pair of levers. The wires thereafter pass through the eyelet 9 from opposite sides and arelcarried down the lever system in the man ner previously described.

To enable the subject-matter of this invention to be readily applied to an existent pendant-wire, where it is not convenient to break the connection at the rosette to thread the wires through the eyelets 11, a simple spring-loop 21, as shown in Fig. 6, is fur nished, which loop may be passed over the wire and thereafter secured through the eyelet in the manner shown, and at the upper end where the lever-frame is suspended by the wires a spring-wire clevis 22 may be used, somewhat as illustrated in Figs. 7 and S. This can be readily applied to the eyelet at 9 and will centralize the point of suspension that the frame will hang plumb.

It will be seen that the device affords a convenient and simple method for suspending an electric light to render-it extensible within the ordinary limits of a room and that in the application of it the wires are not subject to any undue fiexure that would tend to destroy them or abrade their covering and that it can readily be extended or shortened, as required, as the weights 13 need no more than counterbalance the weight of the levers 7 and their wires, the friction of the joints being sufficient .to sustain the levers in any desired position.

The device is simple and cheap to manufacture and is not unsightly in appearance, and in some varieties the links or levers may be made of thin metal stamped or embossed to afford the necessary lateral rigidity.

Where desired as a chandelier, a group of lights may be suspended to the lower end which the wires are passed, hollow eyelets securing said levers together at their ends, said. wires passing through said eyelets, means for counterbalancing the weight of the levers and the wires, said counterbalancing means comprising outward extensions of the upper pair of levers and weights suspended from the ends of said outward extensions, and

means for mounting said lever system to an overhead support for universal movement, said last-named means comprising a universal joint, means for connecting said universal joint with said system of levers, said connecting means also supporting the wires as they pass -from the overhead support to the system of levers, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with the wires of an electric circuit, of a system of lazy-tong levers along which the wires are passed and to which they are secured at the end pivotal connections,-

means for counterbalancing the weight of the levers and the wires such means comprising outward extensions of the upper pair of levers beyond the levers beneath and weights carried on such outward extensions, means for suspending the lever system to the ceiling such means comprising links connected to the lever system and by a universal joint to the ceiling mounting, the wires being conducted down the inside of the suspension-links to about their mid-length and passing through to the outside before entering the lever system.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE B. CLARKE.

RUGGLES C. CLARKE.

WVitnesses:

ROWLAND BRITTAIN, ELLIOE WEBBER. 

